Tove Jansson
Tove Marika Jansson (
pronunciation (?·i); Helsinki, August 9, 1914-Ibiddem, June 27, 2001) was a writer, illustrator, historietist and a fine painter in Swedish language — the Swedish is a minority in Finland, but it is widely spoken in some coastal areas. He is particularly well known for his work for children and, above all, for having created the characters of the Mumin family. These are among the great international successes of Finnish literature, only below the works of Mika Waltari and the Kalevala.
Biography
Tove Jansson was born in Helsinki, Finland, which was then part of the Grand Duchy of Finland. His family, belonging to Finland's Swedish minority, was a family of artists: his father Viktor Bernhard Jansson was a sculptor, and his mother Signe Hammarsten was a graphic designer and illustrator. Tove's brothers also pursued artistic careers: Per Olov as a photographer and Lars as a writer and cartoonist. His household was also often eccentric and noisy. With a marmoset as a family pet, and a nanny who read Plato, these quirky but beloved figures likely became the models for his dreamy, philosophizing characters who populate his fictional world.
He trained at Konstfack, the Stockholm Higher School of Art, Crafts and Design, between 1930 and 1933, at the School of Graphic Arts at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts between 1933 and 1937, and, finally, at L'École d'Adrien Holy and L'École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1938. He exhibited various works in exhibitions of the 1930s and early 1940s, and had his first solo exhibition in 1943.
Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated his first Moomin book, Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen, in 1945, during World War II. He later commented that the war depressed her, and that she wanted to write about something naive and innocent. This first book received many reviews, but the next two, Kometjakten (The Arrival of the Comet, 1946) and Trollkarlens hatt (The Moomin family, 1948), made her famous. She went on to write six more Moomin books, several picture books, and comic strips. Her fame spread rapidly, and she soon became the most widely read Finnish writer abroad.In 1966 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for Children's Literature for her body of work.
Jansson continued to paint and write for the rest of his life, though his contributions to the world of the Moomins were rare since the early 1970s. His first foray outside of children's literature was Bildhuggarens dotter (The Sculptor's Daughter), a semi-autobiographical book written in 1968. Since then he signed several more novels, among which Sommarboken (The Book of Summer) stands out., 1972), and five collections of short stories.
Although he had a studio in Helsinki, he spent much of his life with his partner, the graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, on a small island called Klovharu, one of the Pellinge Islands, in the Gulf of Finland, near the city of Porvoo.
Work
Painting
Although she first rose to fame as a writer, Tove Jansson considered her writing and painting careers equally important. She painted throughout her life, in which her style shifted from the classical impressionism of her youth to the strongly abstract modernist style of her later years. Jansson exhibited a large number of works during the 1930s and 1940s, his first solo exhibition being held in 1943. Despite his generally positive notes, Jansson was induced by critics to refine his style in such a way that in his 1955 exhibition it had become less overloaded with details and content. Between 1960 and 1970 Jansson held five more solo exhibitions.
Jansson also created several commissioned murals and public works during his career that can still be seen in their original location. Among others, Jansson created work for:
- the canteen of the factory of Strömberg in Pitäjänmäki (1945);
- Aurora children's hospital in Helsinki;
- the Kaupunginkellari restaurant at the Helsinki Consistorial House;
- the Seurahuone hotel in Hamina;
- the altarpiece The wise and the foolish virgins in the church of Teuva (1954);
- Several murals on fairytales in schools and nurseries, including the Pori nursery (1984).
Cartoon and illustration
Tove Jansson drew her first strips for advertising campaigns: Lunkentus (Prickinas och Fabians äventyr, 1929), Vårbrodd (Fotbollen som Flög till Himlen, 1930) and Allas Krönika (Palle och Göran gå till sjöss, 1933).
Shortly thereafter she began working regularly as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Swedish-language satirical magazine Garm from the 1930s to 1953. One of her politically themed comic strips achieved brief international fame: portrayed Adolf Hitler as a crying baby in diapers, surrounded by Neville Chamberlain and other great European leaders, who try to calm the baby by giving him pieces of cake (Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia...). She also produced illustrations during this period for the Christmas magazines Julen and Lucifer (for which her mother had previously worked) as well as various smaller productions.
He illustrated Swedish translations of classics such as The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hunt for the Snark , by Lewis Carroll. Some of these illustrations were also used in Finnish translations. He also illustrated his later work The Summer Book (1972).
The Moomin
Jansson's fame is largely due to his Moomin books, children's stories featuring a family of white, furry, roundish trolls with large snouts that remotely resemble hippos.
The name "Moumin" comes from Tove Jansson's uncle: when she was studying in Stockholm and living with her Swedish relatives, her uncle Einar Hammarsten tried to get her to stop pilfering food by telling him she lived "a Moomintroll" » in the kitchen cupboard, which blew cold air on people's necks. The figure of the troll Moomin first appeared in Jansson's political strips, used as a rubric next to the artist's name. This "Protomumin", called Snork or Niisku, was thin and ugly, with a long thin nose and devilish tail. Jansson has recounted how he designed the Moomins in his youth: after losing a philosophical debate about Immanuel Kant with one of his brothers, he drew "the ugliest creature imaginable" on his bathroom wall and wrote "Kant" under it.. This first sketch of Moomin was gaining weight and a more peaceful appearance, but in the first book of the Moomins Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen (The Moomins and the Great Flood), the Moomin Kant is still perceptible.
That first Moomin book was written in 1945. Although the main characters are already the troll Moomin and Mama Moomin, most of the main characters of the later stories were introduced in the next book, so Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen is usually considered a "prequel" to the main series. Also, this first book was not a success, so it was the last to be translated into English, and it has not even been translated into Spanish. However, the next two, Kometjakten (The Comet's Arrival, 1946) and Trollkarlens hatt (The Moomin Family, 1948), brought Jansson to fame.
The style of the Moomin books changed over time. Thus, the former are adventure stories with floods, comets, and other supernatural events. Småtrollen och den stora översvämningen is about Mama Moomin and the troll Moomin going through a dark and gloomy forest where they encounter various dangers. In Comet Comet, a comet nearly destroys the Moomin Valley: some critics have considered this plot an allegory for nuclear weapons. The Moomin Family is about adventures unleashed for the discovery of a magician's hat. Muminpappas bravader (Papa Moomin's memoirs, 1950) tells the story of Papa Moomin's adventurous youth, parodying the memoir genre. Farlig midsommar (A Quite Crazy New Year's Eve, 1954) looks for funny situations in the world of theater: the Moomins explore an empty theatre, and perform a pompous melodrama in it in hexameters composed by Papa Moomin.
In 1952, after the English translation of Kometjakten and Trollkarlens hatt, a British publisher asked Tove Jansson if she would be interested in drawing cartoons about the Moomins. Jansson, who had already drawn a long comic book of the Moomins for the Swedish-language newspaper Ny Tid, entitled Mumintrollet och jordens undergång (The Moomins and the End of the World) and remotely based on Kometjakten, he was quick to accept the idea. The comic strip, Moomintroll, began publication in 1954 in the Evening News, a London area newspaper that is no longer published. Tove Jansson also drew 21 long Moomin stories between 1954 and 1959, initially with her own scripts and later with those of her brother Lars. At that time Tove left the strip, because the daily work did not leave him time to write books or paint, but Lars continued with it on his own until 1975. The complete series of comics has been published in seven volumes in Swedish between 1977 and 1981.
Trollvinter (The Moomin Family in Winter, 1957) marked an important turn in the book series. The stories take on a more "realistic" plot (in the context of the Moomin universe, naturally) and the characters begin to gain some psychological depth. The Moomin Family in Winter is about the accidental awakening of the troll Moomin in the middle of winter (Moomin hibernate from November to April), and his difficulties in dealing with the strange and inhospitable world he finds himself in.. The collection of short stories Det osynliga barnet och andra berättelser (The invisible girl, 1962) and the novels Pappan och havet (1965) and Sent i November (1970) are serious books with deep psychology, far removed from the light humor of The Moomin Family.
Because of the fame that the series had acquired over time, two of her first books were revised by the author and republished in 1968: Kometjakten, with the new title Kometen kommer; and Muminpappas bravader, with the new title of Muminpappans memoarer.
In addition to the novels and comics, Tove Jansson completed the world of the Moomins by writing and illustrating four highly original and popular picture books: Hur gick det sen? Boken om Mymlan, Mumintrollet och Lilla My (1952), Vem ska trösta Knyttet? (1960), Den farliga resan (1977) and Skurken i Muminhuset (1980, with photographs by his brother Per Olov); and a songbook: Visor från Mumindalen (1993, together with his brother Lars and Erna Tauro).
Other literary works
After Sent i November, Tove Jansson stopped writing about the Moomins and turned to adult literature. Sommarboken (The Summer Book, 1972) is his best-known work of fiction for adults, and the only one translated into Spanish. It is a work full of charm, delicacy and simplicity, which describes the summer stay on an island of a young woman and her grandmother.
Theater
Several stage adaptations of the Moomins' works have been produced, and among these, Jansson was personally involved in some. The first was a stage version of Comet Arrival, performed in 1949 at the Åbo Svenska Teater. In the early 1950s, Jansson collaborated on children's performances of the Moomins with Vivica Bandler. In 1974 an opera of the mumins was produced, with music composed by Ilkka Kuusisto.
On the other hand, in 1952 Jansson designed sets and costumes for Pessi and Illusia, a ballet by Ahti Sonninen that was performed at the Finnish National Opera. In 1958, Jansson became directly involved in the theater, and as Lilla Teater she produced Troll i kulisserna, a play with lyrics by Jansson and music composed by Erna Tauro. The production was a success, and was staged in Sweden and Norway.